The Adventure Styx

A little background on this trip. Every year or so, we try to take the freebies earned (points, miles, and free rental days), and redeem them to go somewhere new. These trips typically are shorter and go to places that most wouldn’t consider ideal. So far, we’ve gone to Detroit, South Florida, and now this trip). Us however, we find the best in every opportunity and are constantly checking off our “never been to” lists. All our flights, rental car, and hotels were point redemption. We only paid $23 each for the flight fee.

Day One (10/22). Travel day. Early flight out, it’s not my favorite, but it has its advantages, like getting to our destination early, low chance of delays, and watching daybreak through the night. We got first-class upgrades for both of our outbound flights, which is always a bonus. Plus, since we are traveling internationally, we get to hang out for our 3-hour layover, in the United club. Funny, the United club in Denver is being renovated, so we were in the temp club, which isn’t that great, but hey, we’re still able to go 🤷‍♀️. Our flights were uneventful, just the way we like them. We landed in Toronto, grabbed our car, and headed out on our way. What’s an American tourist to do in Toronto? Well, we hopped in the car and headed to Buffalo, NY, aka back to the USA 😂🤷‍♀️ For the record, the flight into Buffalo was more than $300 per person, so we opted for the 1.5hr drive across the border. On our drive, we attempted to stop at multiple wineries, only to find them just closed. We tried a brewery, but it was a 30 min wait… FOR A BEER. Nope! Back in the car towards the border, we go. An easy border crossing and into Buffalo we went. We drove around for a bit, caught the sunset on Lake Erie, and drove around a bit trying to see as much as we could before dusk slipped away. We drove by The Colored Musicians Club and stopped for a picture (I knew they’d be closed but still wanted to stop by and see the history). The Colored Musicians Club is the only continuously running, all-Black-owned club in the United States. It’s seen some very famous musicians since its opening. https://www.thecoloredmusiciansclub.com/ We continued our drive through the theater district, which was lit up like Las Vegas. Now night has stolen the day and we went and checked into our hotel – Courtyard Marriott (Canal side) and grabbed dinner and brews at Southern Tier. I had to have Buffalo wings, because, when in Rome! To finish the night, we walked around the Naval Park nearby to digest food and see some sights since it was well-lit. Then it was time for sleep 💤.

Day Two (10/23). Buffalo to Niagara. The morning started as many do, with coffee. While I’m in or near Canada, Tim Horton’s is a must. Then we strolled around the canal area taking in the sights we missed because it was dark. Shark girl, EM Cotter (oldest operational fireboat in the USA), the marina, and lighthouse, and then drove over to the industrial area to look at old and decrepit buildings. Thanks to General Mills, the entire town smells like a funnel cake dipped in chocolate, depending on if they’re making Honey Nut Cheerios or something else. We hung out in this area for a bit, taking in the history and enjoying the morning together. We finished our ooohing and ahhing at the industrial area and hopped over to the park where we caught the sunset the previous night. From there we took a drive around the non-downtown area and stopped at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Side note, I’m fascinated by cemeteries. I love the history, and the layout of the grounds, it’s usually quiet, they’re almost always beautiful (due to grounds keeper’s working hard), and folks are dying to get in 😂 The main attraction I wanted to see was the Blue Sky Mausoleum, a Frank Lloyd Wright piece dedicated to his good friend. Additional bonuses were the graves of Millard Fillmore (13th US President) and Rick James (you know I yelled “I’m Rick James, bitch!) We finished driving around the cemetery and headed toward the US side of Niagara. A final nerd stop for me – the location of the Love Canal environmental disaster. This incident is what created Superfund sites. It is one of the worst environmental disasters the US has ever experienced. Not much to see, but it sure felt eerie driving around. More info here if you’re interested https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Canal A quick stop at the Prophet Isaiah’s Second Coming Home… there was a LOT to unpack in the few minutes we stopped and observed. We didn’t stay long, as it was not a great section of town. Now it was on to Niagara. We spent two hours hiking and exploring the falls. We avoided the cluster that is the Maid of the Mist, however, I really wanted to do the Titanic “I’m the king of the world” move. We decided to skip the super touristy attraction. Instead, we paid $1.25 each to take the elevator down and explore and then hit the observation deck to catch amazing views. Our two hours were up, and we had done it all. I told y’all, we’re efficient! There’s a Tesla statue on both sides of the falls, and you best believe we stopped at both. Now it was about 245pm, and it was time to jump the border and catch the falls from the Canadian side. Everyone says the views aren’t great in the US and they’re soooo much better on the Canadian side. They weren’t lying! The US side pushes the water out, but you don’t get the best views. We booked it across the border and headed straight to the Niagara Parks Power Station. An expensive excursion, but absolutely worth it, especially if you married Mr. Science. I learned all about power generation via water. Who needs a guided tour when you married a nerd that knows all about this fun stuff?!? The power station itself was quite fascinating, but the bonus was the access to the tunnel that pops out at the bottom of the falls for one helluva epic view! After we saw all the falls that we could see, we headed north to Niagara on the Lake to see a tiny church and find some dinner. The Living Water Wayside Church might just be the cutest damn church that I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Also, it’s the only church we stopped at on this trip (which says a lot). It fits 6 people, not a single person more. Even better, it’s as wide as Josh’s wingspan. So that’s fun. We finally grabbed a cell signal and found dinner. The Garrison House in Niagara-on-the-Lake was splendid https://www.thegarrisonhouse.ca/. The food and service both were amazing. If you’re ever in the area and hungry, make the stop. There wasn’t much on the menu that didn’t sound delicious. Once we wrapped up dinner, we headed towards our hotel for the night. Parking for hotels in Niagara is ridiculous. I’m not paying $70 to park my car, anywhere, ever. I most certainly am not paying $100 to valet either! We drove 1/2 a block and we were able to find parking at another hotel (cheap) and walked back. We had attempted to find a liquor store, but alas, it was Sunday, so they were all closed. We decided a stop at TGIFridays for a few nightcap cocktails was needed. Bonus, both the Steelers and Astros were on the big screen! We enjoyed our adult beverages and the games, closed our tab, and headed to watch the remainder of the game in our room, while enjoying the lights on the falls. Double bonus, watching the Astros beat the Yankees on their home turf, sweeping them and ending their chance at a World Series birth. I gotta say, that feels good! We quickly drifted off to sleep after watching the win.

Day 3, Toronto, and travel day home. (10/24). We caught the sunrise from our room, since the funicular didn’t start running until 9am, and we’d be long gone by then. It was pretty, but the spray from the falls cloaked most of it. We had crummy room coffee and hit the road out of town. First stop of the day: Devil’s Punch Bowl Conservation Area. It wasn’t as big as we thought it would be (that’s what she said 😂) but the fall colors were striking against the stone background. The waterfall was non-existent due to lack of rain, but still pretty, nonetheless. We went to see the Oakville lighthouse, which was underwhelming at best, but we ventured around the marina area and found a little dock and waterfront park to hang out in for a little bit. It was a bit misty and thick out, so it was a different kind of sightseeing experience. Now it was time to boogie to Toronto. Our first stop found itself at the top of both of our lists of things to see: The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library inside of the University of Toronto. We didn’t have an appointment, so we were unable to pull books to see and touch, however, we were able to see the exhibit, go to the observation deck, and go inside the reference room and touch those books. They also had this really old thing called a card catalog… 😂😂😂 Wow, talk about a flashback in time! We played in the library for a while, then ventured to the car. We decided since the availability was there, and we were there, we should just select a food truck for lunch, so we could grab and go. Bonus to being at the university is the multitude of trucks on the main street (like right behind where we parked!) We had gyros and then ventured off to our next stop. I’ve always had an affinity for graffiti and Graffiti Alley was a must-do for us. It was neat. Lots of colors and creative art. We took a walk from there to our next sight since the car was safely parked. The Half House is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in my life. Functional but ridiculous. We missed some other fun sights in the same vein (cube house, creepy AF dollhouse, the little house, and others) simply because of time and traffic. WTF is the deal with the traffic at all hours? I really enjoyed the city, but geesh, that traffic is ridiculous! Our final stop before heading to the airport. Budapest Park on the shore of Lake Ontario was pretty, not too populated either. A few white swans 🦢 swimming along the beach, some paddle boarders, and the city skyline were a nice, calm way to finish our trip. We enjoyed the sun and sitting together until it was time to go. We got to the airport with ample time to not rush. Returning the rental and security were a breeze, which means we had time for airport cocktails 🍸. We got the upgrade to first class the whole way home again. Our first flight was uneventful, but we’ve learned that after a great trip, there is always some kind of hang up… hello, weather! Storms rolled into the OKC area in the late afternoon and kept building. Our crew worked to find a way home. One flight plan to go west would add an hour to our trip. Then they tried a flight plan to the east, which would add 2.5 hours. Now the flight crew will time out, so back to the gate to deplane we go. That means we had to stay in Houston the night and try again in the morning. Boooooo. 🙁 Weather is a bitch sometimes, but there isn’t much you can do about it. It may have taken forever, and the quality of the facility wasn’t pristine, but United got us set up with a hotel, food and ride share vouchers. We managed to grab a quick shower and get about 3.5 hours of sleep.

Day 4. (10/25) Oh, hello again 🙂 Attempt number 2 at getting home. So, I guess you could say, travel day #2. Early wake up from our overnight nap. We used our food vouchers at the airport, since they’d go to waste otherwise. We arrived to the same plane, same seats, just a different crew. We both slept most of the flight and made it home mostly uneventful except for turbulence from the remains of the storm from the previous night. We got home and quickly flipped into work mode.

All things considered; the trip was still great. I told y’all we were efficient tourists. This trip was no different. Shout out to Hertz rental cars, Marriott and Hilton hotels, and United Airlines! The only thing we paid for on this trip were food and activities, everything else was point redemption. Score! Sometimes my job running me ragged pays off in the rewards later.

Now we can both cross Toronto, ON off the list of “Never Been To,” and Josh can also check New York off of his “states to visit” list. We’re making good progress on those lists! It’s just too bad that work gets in the way of all our fun!

Until next time, get outside, go make memories, and see the world!